Priggish
adjective
Acting superior or moralistic, often in an annoying way.
He sounded priggish when he started lecturing about the importance of honesty.
Often appears as...
- priggish attitude
- priggish behavior
Usage tips
Disapproving
adjective
Acting superior or moralistic, often in an annoying way.
He sounded priggish when he started lecturing about the importance of honesty.
Often appears as...
- priggish attitude
- priggish behavior
Usage tips
Disapproving
Definition 1 of 1
Pro Tip 1/3Negative Connotation
Priggish has a negative tone, suggesting unnecessary or excessive strictness in moral matters.
Her priggish refusal to laugh at the joke made everyone uncomfortable.
Pro Tip 2/3Often Annoying
Using 'priggish' implies that someone's behavior is irritating or annoying due to their self-perceived superiority.
Everyone avoided him due to his priggish comments on their lifestyles.
Pro Tip 3/3Not Just Honest
'Priggish' isn't just about honesty; it's about being overly showy in one's morality.
His priggish speech on charity work felt more boastful than inspiring.
Pro Tip 1/3Negative Connotation
Priggish has a negative tone, suggesting unnecessary or excessive strictness in moral matters.
Her priggish refusal to laugh at the joke made everyone uncomfortable.
Pro Tip 2/3Often Annoying
Using 'priggish' implies that someone's behavior is irritating or annoying due to their self-perceived superiority.
Everyone avoided him due to his priggish comments on their lifestyles.
Pro Tip 3/3Not Just Honest
'Priggish' isn't just about honesty; it's about being overly showy in one's morality.
His priggish speech on charity work felt more boastful than inspiring.
Pro Tip 1/3Negative Connotation
Priggish has a negative tone, suggesting unnecessary or excessive strictness in moral matters.
Her priggish refusal to laugh at the joke made everyone uncomfortable.
Pro Tip 2/3Often Annoying
Using 'priggish' implies that someone's behavior is irritating or annoying due to their self-perceived superiority.
Everyone avoided him due to his priggish comments on their lifestyles.
Pro Tip 3/3Not Just Honest
'Priggish' isn't just about honesty; it's about being overly showy in one's morality.
His priggish speech on charity work felt more boastful than inspiring.
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Quote examples
E. F. Benson
English Novelist
Taste is one of the five senses, and the man who tells us with priggish pride that he does not care what he eats is merely boasting of his sad deficiency: he might as well be proud of being deaf or blind, or, owing to a perpetual cold in the head, of being devoid of the sense of smell.
Quote examples
George Sand
French Novelist
Faith is an excitement and an enthusiasm: it is a condition of intellectual magnificence to which we must cling as to a treasure, and not squander on our way through life in the small coin of empty words, or in exact and priggish argument.
Quote examples
Claire Tomalin
English Author
I was very priggish as a child. I saved up for a book on medieval English nunneries, for which I was despised by my friends.
Quote examples
E. F. Benson
English Novelist
Taste is one of the five senses, and the man who tells us with priggish pride that he does not care what he eats is merely boasting of his sad deficiency: he might as well be proud of being deaf or blind, or, owing to a perpetual cold in the head, of being devoid of the sense of smell.
Quote examples
George Sand
French Novelist
Faith is an excitement and an enthusiasm: it is a condition of intellectual magnificence to which we must cling as to a treasure, and not squander on our way through life in the small coin of empty words, or in exact and priggish argument.
Quote examples
Claire Tomalin
English Author
I was very priggish as a child. I saved up for a book on medieval English nunneries, for which I was despised by my friends.
Example 1 of 3
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